Japan to open up Apple- and Google-dominated phone apps to competition

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan plans to stoke competition in smartphone app payments, dominated by Apple and Google, by banning major app store operators from forcing software developers to use the operators’ own payment systems, a government panel said. The final report by the panel, released on Friday, also said major suppliers of smartphone operating systems…

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Polish LGBTQ march seeks to show strength as election looms

WARSAW (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Poles are expected to march through the streets of Warsaw on Saturday to demand equality for LGBTQ people, as the community eyes elections in October or November in which gay rights could play a prominent role. Poland’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party has focused on opposing…

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Dominican Republic, Canada disagree over Haitian police aid office

By Harold Isaac PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) -As Haiti’s police struggle to contain powerful armed gangs, a disagreement between the Dominican Republic and Canada spilled out into the public on Friday, further complicating an international plan to boost Haiti’s outgunned police force. A day after Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly announced plans to set up a Canadian…

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World Bank green lights $500 million loan to boost Costa Rica’s budget

SAN JOSE (Reuters) – The World Bank approved a new $500 million loan to Costa Rica aimed at strengthening support for the government’s budget, according to a statement from the international lender released on Friday. The loan will support the Central American country’s post-pandemic efforts to grow employment and wages and assist small and medium-sized…

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Twinkies-maker Hostess fined over preventable amputation of worker’s fingertip

By Ismail Shakil and Katharine Jackson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Labor Department on Friday slapped a $298,000 penalty on Hostess Brands, alleging that safety and training failures at the bakery firm led to a worker in Chicago losing a fingertip in December. The department said its investigation found that the Hostess could have prevented…

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US to send satellite data to Canada to help detect wildfires

(Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Defense began sending real-time satellite and sensor data to Canadian authorities on Friday, technology it said would help more quickly identify new fires as that nation endures one of its most destructive early wildfire seasons. The U.S. has already dispatched more than 600 firefighters to Canada to help battle…

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North Korea starts key party meeting to discuss defence strategy – KCNA

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea convened a key party meeting to decide its diplomatic and defence strategy “to cope with the changed international situation”, with leader Kim Jong Un attending, state media KCNA said on Saturday. The enlarged plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) opened on Friday…

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US House Speaker McCarthy threatens to block funding for Chile waiver program

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Friday threatened to use congressional appropriations to block funding for a U.S. visa waiver program for Chile, blaming rising criminal activity in the United States on the program. At a news conference in Santa Ana, California, McCarthy called on U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro…

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